Does anyone know what kind of walkie talkies work best on a cruise ship? Has anyone used them before? How well do they work? There are several different kinds and I don't know if they use some kind of signal or transmitter (like cell phones).
Thanks,
stacy143
If you bring a walkie remember to turn it off during shows and in the dining room. I can't tell you how many times these things go off and interrupt or infringe on other peoples activities.
I remember dining with table mates when a passenger near by had the walkie blasting all the time and conversation that should have been private was broadcast to everyone in the area.
We have Motorolas with the sub-channels (can't remember the model number) and they were great. I bought them at Wal Mart for about $35 for the pair and I will never cruise without them. They are invaluable for allowing everyone to go and do whatever each wants and still be able to hook up later without mandating preset times and places to meet. The girls can be in town shopping while the guys are on the ship soaking in the hot tub and be able to communicate.
Don't bother buying the ones that are cheaper and only have the 14 main channels. There will be so many other people using these that the channels will be crowded with conversations you don't care to hear.
On our family reunion cruise we had 6 sets and 2 of them only had the basic channels. These ended up in the luggage after the first day since they were useless.
They do not work well in the bowels of the ship since metal walls and floors block the radio transmissions. I tried a little experiment on one of our cruises where our travelling companions were up one floor and on the other side of the ship but basically in the same, i.e. rear, area of the ship and found I could not communicate from room to room and had trouble communicating from the elevator to the room. But if we both held the radio near our outside windows we could hear just fine.
Hey Stacy, I loved your answer to David Starkey - there should be a new computer abreviation formed as a result of his e-mail. For instance, lol means laughing out loud - we need one for finger wagging - maybe this would do - <<<1>>>.
Have a great cruise. Also, I never thought of walkie-talkies - sounds like a good idea!!
Thomas has the best information. Pay a little extra for the ones with a 3-5 mile range and sub-channels, there is way to much chatter on the main channels you will never be able to talk to each other.
We found the Cobra with the 5 mile range works the best. We've used them on cruises, at Disney, Universal Studios, water parks, etc. and never had any trouble with them. Get the ones with the charger. We got ours at WalMart and pd about $70 for the pair w/charger.
We used just the cobra walkie talkies (3 mile radius ones) that you can buy at Walmart or best buy, etc on our cruise in March. Our 10 yr old daughter had one and we had one.....But we advised her NOT to use it unless necessary as it does bother other cruise passengers when you are talking alot and especially in common areas or shows she knew not to turn it on. I would get at least a 3 mile radius one or more.
It worked great and on our next cruise we'll bring them again.
Just got back from sailing the Fantasy to the Bahamas. Our family group of four really used the walkie talkies (Talkabout). We had one set of Motorola T5200 and one set of Motorola T5420. Both sets are a few years old, suppose to be good for under two miles. Both sets have a place you could hook a headset to, but we didn't use them. We did turn them off when appropriate.
They worked perfect no matter where we were calling from or too, to include room to room on the main deck to the lido deck and even the casino! Not once did we hear anyone else talking on the channel we were using (11/11). Both of these sets came with only 14 channels.
I couldn't advise about using them off ship except that we did use them at Atlantis to find each other and they worked there.
They are invaluable for keeping track of the kids, though they may not work in all areas of the ship.. don't sweat the FCC thing too much.. they're not going to track you down using a walking talkie with such limited power in the middle of the ocean.. besides, you'll probably be out of US territory most of the time ! Most dual mode radios will be marked FRS/GMRS (Family Radio Service/ General Mobile Radio Service) It's the GMRS mode which technically requires licensing because it transmits at 1-5 watts rather than the 1/2 watt for FRS.. here's a link to the FCC site for additional info and the fees if you're interested. http://wireless.fcc.gov/services/per...generalmobile/ The current fee for a new GMRS license is $75.
We used them, sparingly, on the Grandeur last February. They were a tremendous help when our twin sons, 12, were off on their own on the ship. We didn't use them in the dining room, theaters, etc. We were always together off the ship, so I don't know how they work in port. We have the Motorola 5 mile range model, and they generally seemed to work well. Hope this helps-
hi there, on Grandeur Jul 18, just went to best buy today and got the motorola T4525, basic 40 bucks (25usd) 14 channels, are these similar to the ones you have, was comtemplating getting the higher model but wasn't sure
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